Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me
by itsbloomagic
Summary: One-shot. Harry finds himself on the verge of decision. He's told his friends of the prophecy and he's been trying to stay positive for so long. But now, when everything seems too dark, a single force pushes everything back into the light.


A/N: So... I was tentative to put this on here because it's been so long since I wrote it. I was about 13 at the time. This is an H/G songfic written before HBP, so it doesn't follow canon. This is my first submission to FFN. Please forgive any grammatical mistakes as this was not beta'd.

**DISCLAIMER: The characters in this fic are the complete property of J.K. Rowling. The song, "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," was originally sung by Elton John, but the version used in this fic is the live duet recording with George Michael. No copyright infringement intended.**

So, without further ado, I present:

**Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me**

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The wizarding world had become a very dark place. With Voldemort back and on the move, people were scared. The most powerful aurors and enforcement officers were gripped with fear. Normal people with normal lives had remained blissfully ignorant of any dark activity for nearly a year. Then Voldemort had shown up at the Ministry and Fudge finally admitted what he'd been denying for just as long.

Of course, the public had overthrown the Wizengamot, and Fudge had been kicked out of office, rather than being tried and lightly dethroned. Amelia Bones had taken up the position of Minister, and the _Daily Prophet_ started publishing safety tips and home protection spells. And of course, Voldemort's supporters had begun research on how to break the spells and thwart the quick tips.

And then there was the boy.

_I can't light no more of your darkness…_

Harry Potter sat alone in the Gryffindor Common Room. It was the Christmas holiday of his seventh year and everyone else, that is to say, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, was upstairs asleep, resting up for a day of gifts, feasting, and merriment in the snow. But not Harry. Before, he could keep everyone positive, but it proved to be harder and harder every day since he told them of the prophecy. The day he had turned 17, he told Ron, Hermione, and Ginny about what he was destined to do.

And, as he expected, Ron remained silent, gaping; Hermione had jumped up and began to burst with ideas and reference books. But Ginny… Ginny had stood up and hugged him tightly, pulling him closer to her heart, digging her head into he nape of his neck. That was what made him see that everyone was there for him. That was the event that made him ready… The event that made him keep himself and the others positive for a few months. But not anymore.

_All my pictures seem to fade to black and white…_

He stood up, drinking in the image of the room around him, the firelight casting most of it into shadow. He could barely see the staircases that led to the dormitories. All the while, his body screamed at him to go to bed and rest, but his brain told him to sit because it was the only rest he was gonna get. So he sat.

The moment hadn't yet come for him to use the mysterious 'power' he was supposed to have. He still didn't know what it was, and he knew that this was the year that the prophecy would come to pass.

He thought back to his first year, when he had first met his friends. How carefree he had been. But the memory was distant somehow. It didn't play quite as well in his head as it had several weeks ago.

_I'm growing tired and time stands still before me…  
Frozen here on the ladder of my life…_

The time was creeping by. It felt like he had been sitting in the Common Room, in that chair, for days, when it had only been a few hours. He was so tired… But he refused to sleep.

There were so many buts in his life… He loved his friends, _but_. He was ready to take Voldemort on, _but_.

He had finally figured out what the word 'but' meant. It meant 'forget everything I just said'. He was ready, but, _forget everything I just said_, he didn't want to leave his friends behind.

He sighed and shook his head solemnly.

_It's much too late to save myself from falling…_

He yawned, running his hand through his untidy hair, using the other one to rub his eye.

Somehow, by being born, he had gotten his friends into this mess. He had doomed them to a life of danger and hiding. Hermione's parents had almost been killed, and now had to hide out at Order headquarters, and it was entirely his fault. Ron and Ginny's father had almost died of a snake bite, and he had caused it by befriending the boy. And when Sirius and Hagrid died, it felt as though it was he who fell through the veil. He even felt mounds of guilt for the death of one of his least favorite teachers, Professor Trelawney.

But there was nothing he could do about any of it…

_I took a chance and changed your way of life…_

He thought back to his fifth year, to the real beginning of everything. He had dragged Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna to the Ministry of Magic with him on thestrals. None of them had ever seen battle like he had until then. Luna had been knocked out by a door hitting her, causing concussion; Neville had broken his nose; Ginny had broken her ankle and been stunned; Hermione had some weird spell used on her that put her out and Ron was nearly strangled by a brain. Sirius had _died_.

He dragged everyone into it and they were all scarred for life. Hermione had trouble with too much movement. That is to say, if the activity made her breathe harder than normal, it caused her immense pain. And she had only just gotten over the worst of it. Ron still had scars on his arms and neck, Ginny still limped a little. Neville's nose would never look the same again, and Luna was… Not the same crazy girl.

It was his fault that all their lives were changed…

_But you misread my meaning when I met you…_

There was a quiet thud by the staircases that jerked Harry out of his thoughts. He whipped his head around and saw, by the eerie flicker of the firelight, a mass of red hair and a pair of brown eyes reflecting from the girls' staircase.

"Harry? What are you doing up?" Ginny murmured, walking slowly and uncertainly towards Harry's circle of firelight.

Harry stared directly into her eyes, remembering every memory he had about her. He saw her awestruck face when she realized who he was. He saw her eyes disappearing quickly with the close of a door, and a blushing face running up some stairs. He saw her studying quietly in a corner, running from Fred and George, and talking to friends in the hallway. He heard Hermione's voice in his head, telling him that Ginny had given up on him, thinking he didn't like her back.

Well, then he hadn't. But now was different. He had grown up. That was then, this is now.

_Closed the door and left me blinded by the light…_

"I… I couldn't sleep…" he mumbled, which was partly true. He couldn't sleep because of all the thoughts racing through his head.

"Hmm… Me neither. I pretty much figured it out about 5 minutes after I got into bed!" She giggled melodiously. It was a soothing sound to Harry, and he grinned at her. Suddenly, somewhere in his mind, an abandoned thought fell into place.

"Well, I haven't been sleeping too well the last few nights…" He had blurted it out without thinking, and watched the intrigue in Ginny's eyes flare up.

_Don't let the sun go down on me_

"Really? Why not?" she asked, pure desire to hear his reason etched in every fragment of color in her eyes.

"It's just…" he began. He caught her eyes again and felt his brain begin to slow, even though he was searching for an answer…

_Although I search myself, it's always someone else I see…_

"It's just what?" She furrowed her eyebrows in concern, sitting on his small couch. She was close enough to touch his leg with hers.

"I've never really…" He found himself lost for words as some other abandoned thought found its place. "Gotten over losing the ones I've loved…" He found it easy to talk to Ginny, but he didn't feel like talking. He felt like she was somehow forcing him to talk to her, and he didn't like it.

_I'd just allow a fragment of your life to wander free…_

He never really noticed before how Ginny's eyes were more of a deep hazel than a brown.

"I never wanted to loose anyone… But it's like a penalty or something…" Ginny nodded in understanding. She may have been a good listener, but why the hell was she pretending to understand? She could never understand… But somehow, whether he liked it or not, his mouth kept going.

_But loosing everything is like the sun going down on me…_

"And I've never really… realized how much it hurt me… It kills off a piece of me when they die…" Ginny scooted a little closer to Harry, her other hand coming to rest lightly on his knee. He suddenly realized that a tear was streaming down his face. He couldn't be crying now… He was supposed to be mad at Ginny for intruding and casting some spell to make him talk about the things he didn't want to talk about.

_I can't find… Oh, the right romantic line…_

"I had gone out with Cho for a while… But she couldn't understand what I was feeling. And all she wanted to do was talk." He sniffed. Ginny inched closer, her arm snaking its way around to his back to his shoulder, drawing him closer to her. How could she be so damn comforting…?

_But see me once and see the way I feel_

Ginny seemed to understand everything that Harry was feeling. He was getting extremely frustrated now at her patience. She was so bloody understanding, but she didn't know half of the pressure he was under.

He stood suddenly and Ginny nearly jumped out of her skin in fright.

"Harry… What—" she gasped.

"Stop being so damn understanding! You don't know how I feel! You never will!" He raised his voice a bit.

"Harry…"

_Don't discard me just because you think I mean you harm…_

"Shut up, Ginny! You'll never understand!" The tears threatened to start again and he saw Ginny's face grow pale and her eyes water slightly.

"Harry!" She was on her feet as well, staring Harry down from a shorter, yet obviously more stable level.

"Ginny! You don't know how I feel!" he repeated. "No one does! Because they haven't had to endure all this!" His voice broke once, but he kept it angry. He wanted to be angry. Angry at everyone! Angry at Ginny. He took a breath to start again when…

"Harry!"

_But these cuts I have… Oh, they need love to help them heal…_

She stepped forward and slapped him across the face. The spot where she hit burned and stung, but he bit back an outcry of pain, realizing that he had suddenly stopped being angry.

"Harry James Potter!" she yelled. "Everyone still cares for you! You may be too thick to see it, but even if you _have_ caused all this mess, you ARE NOT the ONLY ONE feeling GRIEF!" She had stepped forward again, almost pressing herself to his chest.

"We are all sad about Sirius and Hagrid and Trelawney, but it doesn't mean that YOU," she poked her finger into his chest, "are the ONLY ONE ALLOWED TO FEEL IT!" Harry looked away from her tearing face and took a small step back.

"You may have the job of killing or being killed, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that you have all of us to love you!" She was obviously very angry at him now.

She took another brave step forward and, turning his chin to face her, she pulled his face down to meet hers as their lips touched softly. She pulled away quickly, blushing.

_Don't let the sun go down on me…  
Although I search myself, it's always someone else I see…_

And then it clicked for him. The final abandoned thought in his head hit its place. He realized it. Ginny hadn't ever really… And he…

"Gin…" He couldn't get his thoughts together.

"Harry, if you don't get it now, I don't know how else to tell you. I doubt my mother or Ron will try to convince you quite like I did." She smiled weakly, turning to go to bed. Then Harry understood. He understood it all as she turned around. The power… He always had it… Just never enough… He reached out and grabbed Ginny's shoulder.

_I'd just allow a fragment of your life to wander free…_

"Ginny…" It was as though, when they had kissed, a piece of Ginny's soul had been passed to him. "I think…"

"Harry, I love you!" She had blurted it out rather quickly, blushing once more.

"G-Ginny…" he stuttered. "The way you comforted me when I told you all about the prophecy… It was more than I had expected from anyone… But you… Gin… I think I love you too…"

_But loosing everything…_

"And if I ever lost you…" he began.

She shook her head and smiled, pulling him down and pushing their lips together once more. Only this time, the kiss was deeper. It was filled with every thought, worry, and feeling that ever had to do with Harry. And not long after, he began to kiss back.

Finally, he pulled away and said, "Gin… I can't loose you now that I've found you. I can't let you get hurt or killed or…"

"Harry, we are going to be together. You need it. Right now."

_It's like the sun going down on me._

She kissed him again, and somewhere in the distance, a clock chimed softly 12 times. Ginny pulled away slightly.

"Happy Christmas, Harry," she whispered.

_Don't let the sun go down on me  
Although I search myself, it's always someone else I see  
I'd just allow a fragment of your life to wander free  
But loosing everything… Is like the sun going down on me…_

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A/N: So there it is. Again, sorry for any mistakes; I tried to catch most of them. Feel free to read and review. :)_  
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